Ellmore Patterson

Ellmore C. Patterson (born in Rochester, New York in 1868 - died in Western Springs, Illinois on 5 June 1946) was founder of Warner-Patterson Company and an amateur sports promoter.

Business career

Ellmore Patterson and his brother Howard Patterson came to the Chicago area about 1885 and worked for Burton S. White in the restaurant and catering business. In 1890, the brothers started a Chicago lunchroom called the Rochester Bakery. In 1893, Ellmore moved to Western Springs, Illinois, where he started to work for the Vive Camera Company, a local firm owned by a Mr. Atwater, who had developed an early box-type of camera. By 1897, Ellmore Patterson had become the general manager of the company.

In 1902, Patterson joined the staff of Colliers Magazine rising quickly between 1904 and 1916 to Western Manager, Advertising Manager, Vice President, and then General Manager. In these positions, Patterson became widley known throughout the United States in the advertising business, as the first to guarantee circulation in weekly magazines and a pioneer in educating readers to interpret advertising.

In 1903, he had married Harriet Wales of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with whom he had four children. His eldest son, Ellmore Patterson, Jr., eventually became chairman of the board and chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Morgan Guaranty Trust.

In 1916, he co-founded the Warner-Patterson Co., a manufacturer of automobile accessories. While with that company, he invented a shaded lens for automobile headlights. He retired in 1936, but remained chairman of the company's board until his death.

Keenly interested in amateur sports of all kinds, he, with Walter Camp, picked All-American football teams for a number of years. In his local area, he taught boxing to boys in neighboring La Grange, Illinois at the La Grange Athletic Association and organzied the Western Spring Cadets, a drill squad. Paralleling his business interests in automobiles, he promoted automobile and auto racing. He made the first non-stop automobile trip from Chicago to New York City. Patterson employed the famous race car driver Ralph DePalma, who won the Chicago Automobile Club Races at Elgin and the 500-mile Indianapolis Classic in 1918 with a special Mercedes automobile that Patterson had imported.

Just six weeks after his wife's death in 1946, Patterson was killed in Western Springs, Illinois, when the high speed Burlington Railroad Zepher struck him, while he was crossing the tracks near his home.

References

* "Western Springs: 19th Century Houses and Their Owners", (Western Springs Historical Society, 1978), p. 54.